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Apparently the child crawled through the barrier. Three year olds are not easy to keep in line. I can see it happening, parent turns their back to deal with other child for a minute, kid climbs barrier.

The Cincinnati zoo website is down, but was he a breeding male or a bachelor. There are about 100 excess gorilla makes just in the US, so it may not be as big a tragedy as if it was a female, depending on his genes.

Poor Gorilla, dead because the parents were not watching their child properly Footage I have seen does not show the Gorilla "throwing" the kid about, in a past incident like this the child was rescued without harming the Gorilla, they could have surely used a tranquilliser gun too?

Tranquilizer darts don't work like one sees in cartoons. They take quite a bit of time to kick in. And many times the animal fights the drugged effect.

Perhaps the zoo should sue all the dunces that have fought against having bars at zoos. People who insisted the animals would "feel" better in a setting that appears (to the human) as less restrictive and more like their "natural habitat."

The gorilla was 17 years old, and close to breeding age. The area around the inhabitat has a moat around it, with a 10 foot drop from the observing area. I'm not quite sure how the child got in, but he did drop the 10 feet, They were afraid to tranquilize because they were afraid the ape would fall on the child.
He was a silverback, and endangered. The zoo acquired him from another zoo when he was a few months old. According to the news interview, the director is very anxious to speak to the parents. I hope they make them accountable.
It's been several years since I have been there, but I remember him. When we saw him, he was just sitting under a tree watching us watch him. My grandkids laughed and said he reminded them of their pappaw. Beautiful animal, and such a tragedy just because the parents were not watching the kid. The kid should have been in a strolller, or child leash, not permitted to run loose. The Cincy Zoo is all hills. It wears me out, and I cannot imagine a little one not having to be "contained" because of them.

I watched the video. It's much less dramatic than tge 911 call makes it out to be. The gorilla is just standing there. If the gorrilla wanted to hurt the kid he would be dead. I remember a similar case where an older kid fell into a gorilla cage and was knocked unconscious. The gorilla in that case showed concern for the kid. This is a sad case.

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